Roberts Gives Padres a Shot in the Ninth : Baseball: His two-out, two-run homer gives the Padres a 6-5 victory over the Montreal Expos.

The baseball was an exclamation point, carrying a piece of Bip Roberts’ heart with it as it traveled on a straight line back, back, still back, then over the left-field fence.

Roberts, batting left-handed and struggling through his most difficult season, started toward first, slowed and pumped his fist into the air as he rounded the bag. He did it again as he approached second. He sported a broad smile as he crossed the plate.

Exclamation point? How much more dramatic does it get in baseball than a full-count, two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth, game-winning, two-run homer?

There were plenty of adjectives as the Padres digested their 6-5 victory over Montreal late Thursday afternoon, and most of them had to do with Roberts’ ninth-inning at-bat.

“Outstanding,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “He fouled off pitches, he battled.”

“It’s what a lot of players dream about,” Roberts said. “It was one of those dream-come-true at-bats.”

The Padres’ postgame puzzle--that Paul Faries was being optioned to triple-A Las Vegas and that they would announce another move today--was only a short interruption in their victory celebration. Although Riddoch would not divulge the name of today’s roster addition, it almost certainly will be Las Vegas shortstop Craig Shipley, whose presence will allow the team to give sore-handed shortstop Tony Fernandez a day off.

Faries, ironically, was on third base with the tying run when Roberts stepped in against Montreal reliever Barry Jones in front of 20,384 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Faries pinch-ran after Tim Teufel’s lead-off double in the ninth.

Roberts, with the crowd cheering and the Padres trailing, 5-4, swung and missed at Jones’ first pitch, took a ball, then fouled off strike two. While running the count to 3-and-2, Roberts fouled off five more pitches.

Then Jones delivered a fastball, and Roberts swung.

Exclamation point? Roberts already has missed 17 games this season. Back spasms, bad seafood, a damaged shoulder from running into the wall while making a catch: The season has not gone as he had planned.

“Sitting on the bench is like living hell,” he said. “I’m not going to sit on the bench anymore unless I have broken bones--it’s to that point.”

The game-winner was his first home run of the season, and his first since Sept. 18 in Houston--a span of 339 at-bats. He now has hit in seven of his past eight games, going 13 for 35 (.371) in that time.

Roberts has hit better than .300 in each of his two full seasons with the Padres, yet his three-for-five day Thursday bumped his average to .271.

“I’ve just been waiting to get into a groove,” Roberts said. “I’ve been trying to be solid at the plate, but I still have a long way to go.

“When you’re not solid at the plate, it doesn’t matter if they put the ball on a tee--you still can’t hit it out.”

The Expos were unimpressed by Roberts’ battle. They thought he should have been called out on strikes by home plate umpire Bill Hohn a few pitches before the home run.

“I feel like the umpire might have squeezed (Jones) a bit,” Expo Manager Tom Runnells said. “(Catcher) Mike (Fitzgerald) told me one pitch he called a ball was definitely a strike.

“It’s a shame. It seems like every time we get a chance to turn the corner, something happens.”

Of course, Runnells’ Greeley, Colo., buddy in the other dugout, Riddoch, has been feeling the same way. He saw Roberts’ homer as a one-day shot of redemption.

“We should have a few more of those coming,” Riddoch said.

Maybe, if the baseball gods don’t decide to punish them for the first half of Thursday’s game. Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey has nothing on the Padres-Expos trip through the first five innings, which included:

Four wild pitches (the Padres scored their first two runs off Ron Darling wild pitches). One passed ball (home plate umpire Hohn was hit in the stomach). One batter hit by a pitch (Padre starter Greg Harris). One batter who thought he was hit by a pitch (Benito Santiago, who took his batting glove off to show Hohn a red mark on the bottom of his hand. Hohn wouldn’t listen, and called the pitch a strike).

And:

One catcher (Santiago) who threw to second in attempt to pick off a Montreal runner even though Andres Galarraga had swung at strike three for the third out in the third inning. One leadoff batter (Roberts) who singled, stole second, went to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch, all while the next batter was still at bat. Not to mention Montreal’s two errors.

“It was a weird game all around,” Padre center fielder Thomas Howard said. “From beginning to end.”